VOA News examines advocates’ concerns over funding levels for U.N. Women. “The mandate of U.N. Women is large, and some supporters are concerned that its starting budget of $500 million dollars is not enough to promote women and gender equality around the world, especially at the country level. Activists compare the funding with the nearly $3 billion dollars annually for UNICEF and $4 billion for the U.N. Development Program. Funding for U.N. Women is less than 1% of the nearly $5 billion U.N. budget.” The World Bank has estimated $83 billion is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of gender equality by 2015. But some advocates are hopeful the agency can bring more women’s voices to the decision-making process, VOA News reports (Eagle, 6/6).