On the 26th January the Education for Sustainable Development Forum hosted an Assembly Explained Workshop at Parliament Buildings. These workshops are delivered by the Participation and Outreach Team at the Northern Ireland Assembly to community and voluntary groups, both in Parliament Buildings and in other venues as outreach. This free training day was open to our ESDF network and NIEL membership to learn more about how the Assembly works. One of the attendees on the day was the NIEL placement student, Punsirini. She gives an insight into her experience at the training day here.

 

The ‘Assembly Explained Workshop’ organised for Northern Ireland Environment Link by the Education for Sustainable Development Forum on 26^th January 2026 was indeed a knowledgeable and memorable experience for me. As an international student who arrived in Northern Ireland just a few months ago, I greatly looked forward to learning about the NI Assembly, its procedures and formalities, as well as visiting the Stormont Estate for the very first time.

The main part of the workshop was a presentation explaining the procedures of the Assembly conducted by Louise Clarke, where she explained the dissemination of power and policy-making in a simple yet detailed manner.  Even for someone new to the system, the clarity of the presentation made the devolved decision-making process, role of the Assembly, function of Committees in the legislature, as well as MLA selection method and ministry allocation easy to understand.

Next was a demonstration of the NI assembly website. The website itself can be complex to navigate due to the breadth of information available. However, this presentation guided us through the web pages and links on how to quickly access information. This part of the workshop was extremely useful to gain insights into plenary sessions, business diary, legislation process and information on MLAs. It also allowed me to understand how the public can influence policy through the public consultation process. (A new NI Assembly website is in development)

All attendees to the workshop were given a guided private tour of the parliamentary building, where fascinating parts of its history, architecture and present-day functioning were shared. From details of the chandelier adorning the great hall to the paintings in the Committee rooms, this session was both interesting and informative.

The highlight of the day for me was our visit to the public gallery. Listening to the ongoing debate allowed me to see firsthand the legislative process and the MLAs at work in the chamber.

As I am reading for my Masters in Leadership in Sustainable Development at Queens University Belfast and currently on a placement with Northern Ireland Environment Link, working on Agriculture and Freshwater areas, the knowledge gained on policymaking and advocacy during the workshop was invaluable. The question-and-answer session at the presentation and the opportunity to network with other attendees also enabled me to gain insight into different viewpoints and share ideas with people of diverse backgrounds.

Overall, this workshop was very well organised, detail-oriented, but enjoyable at the same time. To anyone who wishes to join future workshops of a similar nature, I sincerely believe that it is an opportunity not to be missed!

Feedback received on the day from participants included:

• Very well presented by Louise, who was very knowledgeable and explained the process in detail
• Useful to understand the structure of our government
• Very informative workshop
• Brilliant, important workshop
• Found the talk very useful and I am now better informed
• The session was interesting as I learned more about the NI Assembly than I did before