Tanzania's government communication officers build practical AI skills in Morogoro
The Tanzania Government Communication Officers Association (TAGCO) is running specialised training in Morogoro to strengthen the capacity of government communication officers, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence and modern digital tools. The goal is simple: improve creativity, efficiency and innovation in public communication.
Strategic Communications Adviser Annastazia Rugaba praised TAGCO's initiative, calling it timely and important for raising professionalism and creativity across the sector. She underscored that communication work depends heavily on technology and requires continuous upskilling to stay effective.
"From a technological perspective, I expect to see positive transformation because public communication relies heavily on technology. It is therefore crucial for communication officers to learn and adapt to these changes so they can build strong institutional communication cultures, both internally and externally," she said.
Rugaba added that using AI and other digital tools can help teams share accurate, timely and engaging information with the public, while improving coordination across institutions. In short: better outputs and smoother workflows.
Boaz Mazigo, a Senior Communication Officer at the Tanzania Geothermal Development Company and TAGCO member, said the training opened new ways to apply AI in daily work. "It has provided great insight into how our work can be done more efficiently," he noted.
He pointed to AI's value in simplifying tasks, boosting productivity and speeding up service delivery-practical gains that matter for press offices and information units. Mazigo also urged leaders to keep supporting officers to join similar capacity-building programmes.
From Zanzibar's Ministry of Information and Communication, Head of the Information Unit Takdir Suweid encouraged employers across public and private sectors to release staff for such training. The skills gained, he said, directly support stronger institutional performance.
Why this matters for PR and communications teams
Public expectations are high, news cycles are continuous and misinformation moves fast. Teams that blend human judgment with AI support will respond quicker, brief better and keep messaging consistent.
- Faster drafting with human editing for accuracy and tone
- Media monitoring and sentiment analysis across TV, radio, print and social
- Rapid briefs, key message grids and stakeholder summaries
- Public inquiry support with controlled chat assistants and FAQs
- Translation and localization to reach diverse audiences
- Captioning and variations for images and video, aligned with policy
- Workflow automation for approvals, calendars and distribution
- Crisis response support: alerts, situation summaries and draft holding lines
Guardrails for responsible use
- Keep a human in the loop for approvals and final edits
- Verify facts, sources and citations before publishing
- Protect sensitive data; don't paste confidential content into public tools
- Document prompts, versions and decisions for auditability
- Align with your institution's legal, ethics and records policies
How teams can start this quarter
- Pick 2-3 high-value use cases (e.g., media monitoring, first-draft releases) and define clear KPIs
- Select tools that meet your security and compliance needs; run a 4-week pilot with a small group
- Create a lightweight AI use policy and playbooks for common tasks
- Upskill staff with short, practical courses and share wins internally
If you're setting up training plans, explore role-based options for comms teams at Complete AI Training. For a quick scan of practical options, see the latest AI courses.
TAGCO's programme in Morogoro shows what progress looks like: clear intent, hands-on practice and leadership support. Invest early, measure results and make these skills part of everyday communication work.
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