The need to have TIDY® Centres was conceptualised after it was found that 95% of children and young adults were not really engaged in an activity that brought them joy in 1986.
The first TIDY Centres were established in Goma, DR Congo soon after the volcanic eruption in 2002, to rehabilitate displaced persons. They were called CCMV (Centres de Conseils de Mieux Vivre)  Later TIDY centres were able to identify talents of child soldiers in Liberia and DR Congo and reinsert them into communities
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²The first TIDY centre in Sri Lanka was registered in 2004 and is at 54 Anura Mawatha, Dehiwala.