​Charity says it moved swiftly after the incidents which took place in 2012 and 2016

Sciaf has reassured supporters that the charity has stringent safeguarding procedures in place after revealing it has dealt with two cases of alleged sexual misconduct involving children.

Alistair Dutton, chief executive of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund, said the cases involved a partner organisation where a 45 year-old Burundian man allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl in 2012, and a case in 2016 where an Ethiopian man was accused of sexual misconduct with a boy under 16.

The Burundi man was reported to police, arrested and suspended as a volunteer while the local charity partner co-operated with the police investigation.

The partner organisation also set-up counselling for the alleged victim.

Dutton said: "Sciaf is doing everything we can to minimise the risk of these events and to deal with them appropriately.

"We commissioned a well-known and respected safeguarding expert in the sector to conduct an external evaluation for us. He reviewed all our child protection policies including these two cases and commended us for our policies but also the way we dealt with the cases.”

In the case of the Ethiopian man, he was suspended immediately after being reported by police to the charity and has since been dismissed for gross misconduct following an internal investigation. The criminal case is ongoing.

Dutton added: "In over 50 years we have had two cases reported to us relating to sexual misconduct and both were dealt with decisively.

"I want to reassure all our supporters that you can trust us, that we do have policies and procedures in place and that we do deal decisively with any hint of a safeguarding issue. I won't tolerate that in any part of our operation."

One of Sciaf’s remits is to provide grants to other organisations to develop child protection policies.

These stipulate that all safeguarding cases must be reported to Sciaf with evidence to show that appropriate action is being taken.