The *Arab Digital Expression Foundation* (ADEF) aims to empower and support independent teenagers and youth, individuals and groups, who are active, critical, aware, and can express themselves and produce knowledge for the benefit of their society. We also aim to promote the creative uses of media, art and technology, disseminate the concepts and practices of free culture, and support initiatives that aim to produce free Arabic knowledge using open tools. ADEF's work methodology is based on the collaborative and participatory work principles based on learning and experimentation.

To realize these goals, we build spaces, foster environments for expression and learning, enhance skills and develop knowledge tools to support and empower teenagers and youth, groups or individuals, working on the ground to strengthen their practices and engagement with society.

ADEF also works on youth skills development and self-confidence through the ethical human values that are incorporated and embedded throughout all our activities, projects, and programs such as but not limited to: Humanity, social inclusion, equality, respecting others and accepting differences, adaptation and coexistence, leadership and teamwork etc.

ADEF organizes a set of programs and projects in the fields of digital empowerment, open-source technology, free expression and new/alternative media, knowledge production and leadership, learning and education, as well as arts and culture such as: Arab Digital Expression Camps – ADEC, Youth Media Activists camps – YMAC, Digital Expression Community Area – DECA and Youth Digital Empowerment project.

ADEF also advocates and promotes for open knowledge through the good use and benefits of free licensing, free software, good archival practices, and open access, aiming to produce good quality literature on the open source concept, theoretical frameworks, free licensing, the significance of the public domain, and censorship and restrictions on freedom of expression in a variety of forms such as academic research papers, articles in Arabic Wikipedia, blog posts, informational videos, and opinion pieces in various media publications.

Links: www.arabdigitalexpression.org

Arab Digital Expression Foundation – ADEF is a non-profit foundation established in Egypt in 2009. Earlier in 2007, ADEF started with its still remaining core project, the Arab Digital Expression Camps (ADEC) and since then 11 annual successive camps were organized to date benefiting more than 630 teenagers (12 - 15 years old) and 240 young trainers from 11 Arab Countries. Building on the incredible impact of ADEC on both teenagers and young trainers as well as the community around it, ADEF created its Digital Expression Community Area (DECA) in 2010 to provide the community with ongoing activities throughout the whole year and to reach out to more trainers and trainees than those benefiting from ADEC. While ADEC and DECA are developing and growing, ADEC launched a three-year project "Youth Digital Empowerment Project" in 2014 during which we developed four curricula in Visual Arts, Video, Sound & Music and Computing, trained young adults (18+) to act as facilitators, and also created 10 digital expression spaces in different organizations to host and deliver a two-month summer schools program for teenagers (12 - 15 years old) of the community areas they serve and work with.