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The MDGs are being misappropriated to gain support for a specific development strategy, agenda or argument, mostly being used as a call for more aid or as a Trojan horse for a particular policy framework. As relative benchmarks, they are extremely difficult to meet in countries with low human development. Their misinterpretation as one-size-fits-all targets is leading to excessive Afro-pessimism, begging the question whether Africa is missing the targets or whether the world is missing the point. The global MDG canon is dominated by a money-metric and donor-centric view of development, and is not ready to accept that growing disparities within countries are the main reason why the 2015 targets will be missed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]