Case Teaching Workshop Held at ECSU
Ethiopian Civil Service University's (ECSU) College of Finance, Management and Development (CFMD) held a significant workshop on case-based teaching in collaboration with the world-renowned Ivey Business School on July 16, 2025. The event, titled “Teaching with Cases, 39 Country Initiative, Ivey Publishing Case Collection,” brought together academic staff and experts from across the university.
Dr. Lemma Gudissa, ECSU's Vice President for Academic Affairs, opened the workshop by underscoring the importance of case-based teaching in modernizing education for national impact. He called on the attendees to contribute their on-the-ground expertise to the case discussions, making the learning experience more robust. He gratefully acknowledged the 39 Country Initiative for two key contributions: providing access to a global collection of impactful case studies and, crucially, building the capacity for ECSU to create its own localized case materials grounded in Ethiopian realities. He concluded with sincere thanks to the organizers for promoting this highly practical and effective learning methodology.
The workshop's facilitator, Dr. Yamlaksira Getachew, an Associate Professor of Strategy at Babson College, led detailed discussions on several key topics. These included "Taking Stock of the Lecture-Based Approach," "The Case-Based Approach," "Applying the Case-Based Approach," "The Value of the Case-Based Approach," the "39 Country Initiative," the "Ivey Publishing Case Collection," and "Case-Based Education." Participants actively engaged in the sessions, raising various points and holding extended discussions on the topics presented by Dr. Yamlaksira .
Dr. Yamlaksira Getachew holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Ivey Business School at Western University, Canada, and an MBA from Addis Ababa University.He has authored two strategy cases, one on Ethiopian Airlines and another on a Kenyan social enterprise dedicated to tackling poverty.