Youngsters Programs

We target Arab youth seeking critical learning experiences and spaces for innovation and expression, where technology is re-explored and profoundly deconstructed—moving beyond mainstream social media use—as a medium for expression. This field represents the space holding ADEF's cumulative experience over past years, as its community, methodologies, and operational systems continue to evolve and effectively respond to present demands. This core unit within ADEF encompasses an ongoing series of activities forming the backbone of its work, including:

Summer Schools

The Summer Schools for Teens are launched as an alternative, non-traditional learning environment aimed at redefining the relationship of adolescents (aged 12 to 16) with technology and the digital realm. These schools do not treat technology merely as a tool for entertainment or passive consumption, but rather transform it into a vibrant medium for critical thinking and creative production.

Training Workshops

Training workshops at ADEF are interactive and open spaces for learning and teamwork, aimed at equipping young people and children with practical and critical skills in arts, technology, and self-expression. Our workshops rely on a hands-on, inquiry-based learning methodology, transforming training from passive knowledge transmission into a participatory experience that allows participants to ask questions, share expertise, and produce their own projects. Our workshops cover a wide range of topics, including video editing and filmmaking, sound design and music composition, computational thinking, visual design, 3D modeling, fashion design, as well as arts, culture, and sports. Through these workshops, we aim to build flexible learning communities that empower individuals to use technical and artistic tools for free expression.

Inclusion and Diversity Unit

In pushing further for diversity, a new target group, neurodiverse teens and youth who have found in technology tools that empower their already challenged expression, has been given focus since 2019 at ADEF. This need became clear when an autistic camp participant attended our 2019 camp. ADEF is serious about having an open space that is accessible to children and youth no matter their background and current experience. Therefore, in 2019, ADEF established its Inclusion and Diversity Unit in collaboration with the Egyptian Autistic Society (EAS), and development work kicked off for the adaptation of neurodiverse inclusion for all of ADEF’s activities with teens and young professionals. Neurodiverse here includes autism, dyspraxia, dyslexia, ADHD, Tourette’s Syndrome. The unit’s first milestone was to design and develop a curriculum for training the trainers/facilitators on how to communicate with neurodiverse teens and how to include them in our different activities. ADEF sees its positioning and experience as a responsibility to pioneer efforts to make creative tech expression spaces accessible to neurodiverse youth and adults. ADEF’s Inclusion and Diversity Unit came out of this ignited passion about potential and desire to live up to ADEF’s mission of diversity and accessibility.