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.

Policy Context

Media4ME was developed as more and more urban areas become multicultural. Local authorities and service providers experience that the communication with and among citizens in these areas are rapidly decreasing and becoming more difficult. Citizens in these areas regularly experience negative portrayal and images of their areas in the media and are missing their own voice in the debates. All parties in the areas acknowledge a possible digital exclusion of large parts of the citizens in these areas because of insufficient media literacy skills and competencies. Several local authorities and service providers executed media and communication projects, but these were often short lived and were not part of a long term policy and perspective.

Description of target users and groups

The direct target groups of Media4ME are local authorities and management and workers of neighbourhood organizations and institutes, like: schools; libraries; health care centers; community centres; migrant organizations; religious organizations; police; elderly care; youth centers; housing corporations; local radio and television stations; neighbourhood newspaper; etc.

The indirect target groups are the citizens in multicultural neighbourhoods, including IEM.

Description of the way to implement the initiative

Media4ME is an ongoing project. At present Media4ME is being funded by the European Union, but it will be made more sustainable by offering its services to local authorities and local service providers. Media4ME supports new project development. Monitoring and support services are being budgeted in new project applications by local organizations. On local level costs are not kept low by using ICT, but by more effective and practical cooperation between organizations and institutions. The use of ICT and social media asks a new way of working and a new way of organizing the existing budgets.

Technology solution

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. Success factor of Media4ME is the intercultural expertise and the fact that Media4ME is not executing projects by itself, it is therefore a desirable partners which can bring extra value to your activities.

Main results, benefits and impacts

The aim is 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.

Involvement of IEM in the practice

IEM are involved of all Media4ME activities. IEM organisations are part of the Media4ME collective. The main aim of Media4ME is to encourage intercultural dialogue and social cohesion. Media4ME is actively linking minority organisations and local service providers.

Impact assessment and monitoring

Media4ME is monitoring and assesing the impact. One of the Media4ME partners will develop special methodologies for this purpose. Results will be published in publications and on the website www.media4me.org.

Track record of sharing

Starting from 2011 the Media4ME concept will be introduced in six more EU-member states.

Lessons learnt

Success factor of Media4ME is the intercultural expertise and the fact that Media4ME is not executing projects by itself; it is therefore a desirable partners which can bring extra value to your activities.