THE MAMBO MOVEMENT
Dismantling Systemic Healthcare Inequities
A Nation of Diversity—But Not Yet of Equal Health Outcomes
Australia’s healthcare system is world-class in innovation and clinical excellence—but it is not yet equitable.
With over 51% of Australians born overseas or with a parent born overseas, we are one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse nations in the world. Yet our healthcare system still operates from models that were never designed to reflect this reality.
We are at a tipping point.
While health systems face rising complexity, burnout, and resource strain, multicultural communities continue to experience entrenched disparities in access, treatment, and outcomes. These inequities are not random—they are systemic, deeply rooted in how care is designed, delivered, and measured.
Three Critical Challenges We Can No Longer Ignore:
🔹 Outdated, one-size-fits-all care models: Health systems still rely on standardised, Eurocentric frameworks that ignore cultural and linguistic diversity. The result? Misdiagnoses, delayed interventions, and disengagement—especially in general practice, cancer care, chronic illness, and mental health.
🔹 Invisibility in data, planning, and funding: When data doesn’t reflect race, gender, visa status, or social conditions, multicultural communities are left out of policy and funding decisions. What we don’t see—we don’t solve.
🔹 Cultural safety is not standard practice: Language barriers, stigma, and bias still compromise care quality. For many, navigating healthcare means navigating harm—and too often, it means walking away.
The Mambo Movement: A New Model for Equity in Breast Cancer Care
Nowhere are the cracks in the system more visible—or more devastating—than in breast cancer care for Women of Colour (WOC).
WOC—including Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, and multiracial women—face lower screening rates, later diagnoses, more aggressive cancers, and poorer survival outcomes. These inequities are compounded by racism, visa insecurity, language barriers, financial strain, and a lack of culturally safe care.
This is not just a data issue—it’s a human issue. And it’s why The Mambo Movement was born.
Founded by Lilian Musyawa Kikuvi, who personally experienced breast cancer, The Mambo Movement is a purpose-led initiative committed to ending breast cancer disparities for Women of Colour (WOC).
Grounded in lived experience, shaped by intersectionality, and guided by the Kenyan principle of Harambee—pulling together to achieve a shared goal—we centre the voices of those most impacted and lead with the belief: “Not without us, but with us.”
OUR FIVE STRATEGIC PILLARS
We operate across five strategic pillars to create real, measurable change:
Early Detection & Health Literacy
Inclusive Care & System Reform
Workplace & Structural Equity
Representation in Research & Data
Community Voice & Collective Healing
OUR OFFERINGS
KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
1.Navigating the Disruptive Tides: The Urgency of Resilience and Reclaiming Your Rhythm
Global disruption has surged by 200% since 2017 (Accenture), reshaping systems, leadership, and human resilience. Burnout, disconnection, and complexity are no longer exceptions—they’re the new baseline. In this powerful keynote, Lilian Musyawa Kikuvi draws from her 2023 breast cancer journey and two decades of cross-sector leadership to offer a bold new way forward. Introducing the MAMBO Framework™—a human-centred model blending cultural intelligence, neuroscience, and systems thinking—she equips audiences with a practical blueprint for clarity, connection, and courageous leadership
Ideal for: Anyone navigating change, including executives, emerging leaders, People & Culture teams, frontline staff, and those focused on personal development. It offers clarity, compassion, and a powerful path forward through uncertainty.
2. Future-Ready Care - Redesigning Healthcare to Be Relevant, Resilient, and Radically Equitable
Australia’s healthcare system is globally respected for its universal Medicare access and cutting-edge research. But in a country where more than half the population is culturally diverse, our current "one-size-fits-all" model is falling short, failing the very communities it aims to serve.
Join Lilian Musyawa Kikuvi in this powerful keynote as she challenges us to confront systemic blind spots and co-create bold, equitable solutions. With close to two decades of experience spanning Australia’s public and private healthcare sectors, coupled with her lived experience as a breast cancer survivor, Lilian offers unique insights into the urgent need for change.
She'll leverage CSIRO’s megatrends—such as an aging population, increasing migration, empowered consumers, and evolving care expectations—to demonstrate why a complete system redesign is essential to genuinely meet the needs of all Australians.
Attendees will gain:
✔ Practical strategies rooted in intersectionality, cultural responsiveness, and collective action
✔ A clear roadmap to future-proof leadership, policy, and service delivery
✔ A renewed vision shaped by lived experience, systems thinking, and cultural intelligence
Ideal For: Healthcare professionals, interdisciplinary teams (including GPs, specialists, and allied health providers), government departments, policy leaders, service commissioners, occupational health and safety (OHS) professionals, private health insurers, return-to-work planners, public health researchers, academics, and community health leaders committed to driving systemic change and fostering culturally responsive healthcare solutions.
STRATEGIC SERVICES AND PROGRAMS
1. Workplace, Leadership and DEI Capability Uplift Programs (In Collaboration with Becoming Better Together Collective (BBTC))
BBTC deliver immersive programs deeply rooted in First Nations, Kenyan, and Queer cultural influences. These programs exist at the intersection of workplace culture, leadership and DEI. Designed for today's dynamic world, we help organisations cultivate the essential skills and systems needed right now, including cultural intelligence, inclusive leadership, and collective resilience.
Our programs go beyond mere awareness, equipping your teams to build inclusive leadership and systemic accountability, ultimately creating safer, more responsive environments. We also prepare your organisation to thrive in an ecosystem increasingly shaped by AI and technology. With BBTC, you won't just keep up; you'll lead with clarity, courage, and purpose.
Ideal for: Board Directors and Executives, Senior and Middle Managers, People & Culture and HR Teams, DEI Councils, Committees, and Working Groups, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Change Champions, Emerging and Future Leaders, including Graduates and High-Potential Talent and Frontline Staff and Team Leads
2. Embedding Cultural Responsiveness and Equity into Systems, Policies, and Workforce Practices (Consulting and Change Management)
This strategic service helps organisations embed cultural responsiveness and equity into their systems, policies, and workforce practices—transforming intent into sustainable, organisation-wide change.
Leveraging lived experience (internal and external), systems thinking, and collective action, it moves organisations beyond siloed diversity efforts to a unified, measurable, and impactful inclusion strategy. Designed for health-focused organisations, the service strengthens access and outcomes for multicultural communities, optimises workforce diversity, and embeds equity into the heart of organisational culture.
At the core of this service is an evidence-based, co-designed action plan, developed through meaningful consultation with staff, communities, and sector leaders. The action plan aligns with national health priorities and organisational values, and is supported by a tailored strategic roadmap that ensures delivery is phased, achievable, and outcome driven.
Implementation follows the proven five-phase framework:
Discover – Gather insights through data, lived experience, and stakeholder consultation
Diagnose – Identify systemic barriers and inequities using intersectional and root cause analysis
Design – Co-create strategic responses and culturally responsive interventions with those most affected
Deliver – Implement solutions with clear governance, KPIs, and workforce capability building
Drive – Embed continuous improvement, community feedback loops, and long-term accountability
This comprehensive service provides the blueprint, partnerships, and tools needed to deliver lasting equity—across workforce, policy, and patient care.
COMMUNITY AND WELLNESS WORKSHOP
1.Healing Circle: Reclaiming Our Breast Health Journey
This sacred space is exclusively for Women of Colour (WOC) diagnosed with breast cancer and those who walk alongside them in their treatment journey, supporting them with truth, visibility, and solidarity. Led by The Mambo Movement and Rose Breast Health, this session cultivates a culturally safe circle of healing and transformation.
We focus on lived experiences, honouring pain and survival to reclaim the care we deserve. Learn crucial early detection and health literacy skills, empowering you to confidently navigate the healthcare system.
We confront the significant barriers WOC face in breast cancer care: lower screening rates (e.g., 36% for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women vs. 50% for non-Indigenous women), higher incidence of aggressive subtypes like TNBC (twice as common in women of African ancestry), and impacts of social determinants like poverty and discrimination. These lead to earlier diagnoses of advanced disease and lower five-year survival rates (81% vs 90%). We'll also address underrepresentation in research and the lack of intersectional health approaches.
This circle transforms isolation into empowerment through shared strategies. It fosters a supportive environment to restore agency, build belonging, and establish a powerful tribe for ongoing support and advocacy.
Key take aways
✔ Empowerment through shared experiences
✔ Culturally safe care and healing practices
✔ A deep sense of belonging and connection within the WOC community
✔ Practical tools to reclaim control over breast health and wellbeing, including enhanced early detection strategies and improved health literacy
✔ Shared strategies for overcoming healthcare barriers and challenging normalisation
✔ The establishment of a supportive tribe for ongoing connection and advocacy
Ideal for: Women of Colour navigating breast cancer, survivors, carers, and those concerned about their breast health—this is a space to listen, speak, and be held in community.
The Mambo movement includes all women—cisgender, transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming—who have faced oppression. "WOC" encompasses non-white women from historically disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups, including Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, Pacific Islander, and Middle Eastern women.
Are you ready to shift the dial in the healthcare system? Contact the Mambo Movement to move beyond good intentions and lead real, systemic change—centred on cultural safety, lived experience, and community impact. Together, let’s create a healthcare system where no one is left behind.