Communication for Localisation: “Making” the Paralympics Malawian

Jennie Wong, Prof. Mufunanji Magalsi (UofMalawi), Jo Tacchi, Jessica Noske-Turner

Nov. 27, 2025

Malawi

Academic Research Publications

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Abstract

Like many media and communication initiatives for development and social change that are highly global in nature, the social impact of expanding the broadcast footprint of the Paralympic Games to regions such as sub-Saharan Africa is often simply assumed, and the markers of success are underpinned by a reach-centric logic. In this paper, we explore whether and how the Paralympics can become a platform for social change. Informed by findings from a four-year participatory action research project, this paper analyses experimentation with different communication for social change approaches related to para sport and the Paralympics, with a focus on Malawi. The Paralympics presents a unique context for analysing communication for social change, as it involves collaboration between non-profit and commercial stakeholders. We advance and operationalise the concept of “communication for localisation,” combined with an ecological approach to communication, to draw attention to the agency of local actors in interpreting global media content. We highlight four moments of “making” that demonstrate practices of localisation and interpretation that are important for grounding the Paralympics within local contexts in meaningful and impactful ways.

Introduction

The global broadcast footprint of the Paralympics has rapidly grown over recentdecades. In 2004, the Athens Paralympic Games were broadcast to just 25 countries.This grew to 80 countries for Beijing 2008, 115 for London 2012, and 154 for Rio 2016(IPC 2017). In 2021, the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games was broadcast to 175 countriesand territories (IPC 2021) and marked the first free-to-air (FTA) Paralympic broadcastto sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).This expansion was motivated by a tacit understanding shared by the InternationalParalympic Committee (IPC) and its partners that watching the Paralympics can lead tosocial change, and a social mission has underpinned the Games since their origins(Brittain 2010). The IPC claims that the Paralympics is now “the world’s number onesport event for driving social inclusion” (IPC 2022). The broadcasters involved, such asChannel 4 in the UK, also express social motivations as drivers of their efforts (Pullenet al. 2018).

Concurring with this view, UK International Development (now part of theForeign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO) subsidised the broadcastrights and production costs of the SSA broadcast of Tokyo 2020.In this paper, we explore what is needed to realise the social change potential associatedwith the Paralympics as it moves into the SSA region. Drawing on findings fromparticipatory action research (PAR) conducted from 2020 to 2024 through a long-termcollaboration between two universities (Loughborough University and the Universityof Malawi), we argue that while social impact was the primary motivation, this impactwas often simply assumed. Most actors, including development funders, sports bodies,and broadcasters, were driven by what we will refer to as reach-centred logics: the beliefthat increased audience reach numbers equate to increased impact, where “socialimpact” is implicitly assumed to primarily be about individual attitudes towarddisability. In the field of communication for social change, countering this assumptionis not a new concept.

Waisbord identified a widespread consensus in the field thatinitiatives “cannot solely resort to the mass media” but must also involve interpersonalcommunication for social change, as it is through peer conversation that social learningand critical conscientisation occur (Waisbord 2005, 81). While concurring withWaisbord’s stance, we propose that the Paralympics is a particularly novel case thatexpands the horizons of these debates, as it brings together mainstream commercialimperatives and actors with social change advocates and agendas, doing so on asignificant global scale.