Permata Indonesia as an organization of people afferted by leprosy in Indonesia focused its program on advocacy of the rights of people affected by leprosy. In order to improve knowledge and skills of PerMaTa members in the field of policy advocacy in the May 2010, PerMaTa Indonesia organized Training of Public Policy Advocacy in three cities of East Java; Kediri, Lamongan, and Gresik. The training was attended by 20 members of the PerMaTa in each city.

The training was facilitated by Sapto Nugroho, Director of Talenta Foundation Solo. The training begins with character development of participants. This material was presented to improve self confidence of the participants due to their experience having leprosy. At the next session, basic idea and technique of advocacy were presented to the participants. The training used the adult learning methods, where each participant is encouraged to participate actively in the learning process during the training. The method showed that the participants could actively engage in discussions during the process. Simulation is also a lot done during the training process to help deeper understanding of material presented to the participants.

On the second day, participants were encouraged to develop Advocacy Team, where the team responsible for designing public policy advocacy activities with the aim to conduct discussions with members of the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) in each district or city respectively. Discussions with members of Parliament were intended to do the socializing of PerMaTa’s programs and the local government is expected to pay attention on the lives of people affected by leprosy in their respective regions.

In the end of the training the team was asked to prepare Action Plan (RTL). The RTL contains about some activities that are intended to prepare the implementation of a hearing Permata member with legislators in their respective regions. With this public policy advocacy training Permata members are expected to have confidence in building partnership with the local government in addressing the problem of leprosy. (cak)