LAU Industrial Hub Supports Local Manufacturing Effort to Address Period Poverty
By the LAU Industrial Hub team · Updated · Source: LAU News
The LAU Industrial Hub supported a faculty and student effort to design and build a local sanitary pad manufacturing unit. The work was done with UN Women and ACTED.
The initiative responds to period poverty in Lebanon. Many women and adolescent girls now find it harder to get safe and hygienic menstrual care products. UN Women and ACTED had earlier supported imported sanitary product manufacturing units in Lebanon. They saw a chance to make such units locally through LAU.
Through LAUIH, a student team from several disciplines designed and assembled the machine locally. The project combined engineering design, fabrication, student talent, and practical problem-solving. The result is a more accessible solution that is easier to maintain for local communities.
Local manufacturing was a key part of the project’s value. A locally designed and built unit can reduce dependence on international suppliers, make maintenance simpler, support local sourcing of spare parts, and make future deployment more practical.
The collaboration also shows LAUIH’s Industry Pod model in action: real partner needs, structured technical work, professional supervision, and students contributing to solutions with social and industrial value.
Representatives from UN Women and ACTED visited LAU’s Byblos campus. They reviewed the team’s progress, toured the Engineering Labs and Research Center, and discussed the machine with the students and faculty involved.
The project shows how LAUIH connects academic depth, student capacity, and partner needs to deliver practical solutions for Lebanon and the wider region.
