2215 1. INTRODUCTION Mining is increasingly operating in territories with high cultural diversity, a presence of Indigenous peoples, and social dynamics sensitive to rapid change. In this context, socio-environmental conflict is often associated not only with physical and biological impacts, but also with critical social factors: persistent educational gaps, limited capacity for socio-economic development planning, and limited participation in accessing, generating, and disseminating information relevant to decision-making. These conditions affect the social license to operate (SLO) and often entail operational, reputational, and environmental permitting risks. In Peru, cultural and linguistic diversity demands approaches that recognize interculturality and the value of local knowledge as the foundation for effective social management. In the Nuestros Saberes program, education is understood as a sustainable territorial asset: a tool for generating local evidence, preserving collective memory, and developing capacities so that the community can leverage and sustain public and/or private investment over time. From the perspective of investors and financiers, the challenge is twofold: on the one hand, improving the efficiency of social investment by avoiding reactive and short-term approaches; and on the other, reducing the avoidable costs associated with conflicts between companies and communities. In this regard, the National Center for Strategic Planning (CEPLAN, 2024) points out that prolonged work stoppages in mining production due to social conflicts arise, among other factors, from limited community participation, the perception of an unequal distribution of benefits, and the absence of effective prevention mechanisms. According to information cited by this institution, by 2023, work stoppages associated with the Las Bambas mining project had accumulated approximately 700 days without production, generating estimated losses of S/ 5.2 million per day for the Peruvian State. This paper aligns with the Congress's central theme—producing minerals faster, smarter, and more responsibly—by proposing a replicable model that increases social predictability throughout the mining project's life cycle through community co-responsibility, information generation, and intergenerational capacity building. However, the program operates within a medium-term framework; its contribution lies in laying the groundwork for a transition toward more informed dialogue, strengthening community tools for negotiation, planning, and the sustainable management of conflicts over time. 2. SCOPE, OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study addresses the prevention of socio-environmental conflicts through a participatory model for managing socio-cultural and census data. The focus is not on "making more social investment," but rather on improving its performance through local capacity building that enables the production and updating of primary data, the development of situational analyses, and the formulation of development proposals. General objective: To validate the design of the Nuestros Saberes program as a co-responsibility device that complements the State's educational offer and optimizes the social investment of the mining sector, strengthening the social license to operate and reducing conflict risks. Guiding questions: Q1. What gaps do current approaches to social investment and community management show — according to corporate reporting and due diligence frameworks— with respect to co-production of information and territorial capacities? P2. How do the information circuit and program components transform education and social investment into sustainable and measurable assets? P3. How does the design align with the international standards of the IFC, IDB, and ICMM, and at what level of the participation spectrum does it position itself?
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