Media4ME aims to connect and empower organisations, institutions and active citizens working in multicultural neighbourhoods promoting intercultural dialogue and social cohesion and to counter the negative portrayal of neighbourhoods and their inhabitants in the mainstream media.

Media4ME has been developed as a national helpdesk which supports multicultural areas to develop a comprehensive intercultural media approach in the area. The aim is not to reinvent the wheel, to learn from the experiences of others and to make use of experience and facilities already available in the multicultural areas.

In order to realize all this, the first aim of Media4ME was to map good practice in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, to co-create tools and methods in order to adapt them to new environments and to match relevant parties. Media4ME created national communities of stakeholders like libraries, educational institutions, housing corporations, healthcare organizations in order to share experiences and to find effective partnerships.

Media4ME analyzed the obstacles for sustainable implementation of social media policies in the multicultural areas and developed methods to overcome these obstacles. One of the priorities was to encourage in the short term more basic media competencies and skills with staff members of schools, libraries, etc., by developing and executing media coach training courses. in the long term,  Media4ME encouraged the integration of media competencies in curricula of vocational training institutes. Another priority was to introduce media tools and methodologies to local institutions and organizations as a way to cooperate and unite their efforts to improve communication, participation and social cohesion in the area. For this the Social Media Game was developed and being executed in areas and in workshops during local and national conferences.

Examples of possible media tools and methods are:

• Children press agencies;
• Narrowcasting linked to digital screens in public spaces;
• Digital storytelling;
• Virtual area museums;
• Skype circles for the elderly;
• Training of spokes persons;
• Neigbourhood correspondents:
• Civic and civil journalism Media literacy courses for parents on how to deal with the online activities of their children.

At present Media4ME is a virtual helpdesk, uniting the expertise of various national organizations in the Netherlands. Media4ME consists of a very active website (www.media4me.org); the website is supported with a telephone and digital backup which gives advice and suggestions and links questions to expertise in the Netherlands. Media4ME supports local authorities and organizations to develop implementation projects and to adapt existing tools and methods. Media4ME realizes publications and is partner in an increasing number of conferences and seminars. The success factor of Media4ME is the intercultural expertise and the fact that Media4ME is not executing projects by itself; it is therefore a desirable partner which can bring extra value to your activities.